A maiden century for India by Rohit Sharma was not enough to stop Zimbabwe from snatching a dramatic victory in the first ODI of a three-way series here Friday. The home team won at a gallop with 10 balls and six wickets to spare in the first of two matches between them in a series which also includes Sri Lanka. All six top Zimbabwe batsmen, led by man-of-the-match Brendan Taylor, contributed significantly towards a surprise victory as they overtook an India total of 285-5 to record an impressive 289-4 in reply. The home team performed with skill and sometimes disdain, setting about its task of overtaking the Indian effort in both workmanlike and spectacular manner, as varying situations demanded. India's new captain Suresh Raina, who had won the toss and opted to bat, praised the Zimbabwe batsmen but blamed the defeat more on the inexperience of his team. “Some of them have never played at this level,” he explained. “However we should have been able to defend 285 runs.” Taylor's innings of 81 runs, cut short with a boundary catch when approaching his second ODI century, was backed up principally by Craig Ervine in his first ODI innings for Zimbabwe. He made 67 with Hamilton Masakadza contributing 46. Sharma's hundred earlier in the day was a mix of caution and boundary hunting as he gained confidence. He came in when India had lost three wickets for 61 and was momentarily on the back foot. Its recovery from this, led by Sharma, came with a flurry of boundaries in later overs and 285 runs seemed likely to be sufficient to beat a home team with no great record in internationals. But the Zimbabweans, who have done their Test cricket return aspirations a boost with this result, set about the task with inspiration and confidence. Certainly the India bowling was not up to scratch and will have to be tightened up for its next match, against Sri Lanka here Sunday. The one blot on Zimbabwe's day was the bowling performance of new captain Elton Chigumbura, who contrived to give away no fewer than 20 wides in his two overs - something for the Guinness Book of Records if they had such a category. Chigumbura said afterwards he had problems with his technique but he praised his colleagues for their “superb overall performance.” Brendan Taylor took three catches in the India innings, giving him an especially memorable day. India, which blamed its defeat on youth and inexperience, will have to regroup in the next two days, aware that the Sri Lankans are ready to pounce. Modi's lawyer on course Suspended Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi will meet Monday's deadline from the India cricket board to explain his alleged involvement in trying to raise a parallel Twenty20 league in England, local media said Friday. Modi's legal adviser Mehmood Abdi told Press Trust of India he was “on course” to submit the reply to the BCCI. England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke raised the issue in an e-mail to BCCI and the cricket board asked Modi to explain. BCCI secretary S. Srinivasan in the request feared Modi tried to challenge not just the authority of the BCCI but also the ECB. – AP Scoreboard India Karthik c Taylor b Prosper Utseya 22 Vijay run out Prosper Utsey 11 Kohli run out Elton Chigumbura 00 Sharma c Taylor b Mpofu 114 Raina c Brendan Taylor b Mpofu 37 Jadeja not out 61 Y. Pathan not out 11 Extras (26w, 1nb, 1lb, 1b) 29 Total (for 5 wkts) 285 Did not bat: Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda. Falls: 1-56, 2-57, 3-61, 4-128, 5-260. Bowling: Chris Mpofu 10-1-63-2, Elton Chigumbura 2-0-36-0, Ray Price 10-0-53-0, Prosper Utseya 10-0-46-1, Greg Lamb 10-0-40-0, Graeme Cremer 7-0-40-0, Andy Blignaut 1-0-5-0. Zimbabwe H. Masakadza b Mishra 46 BRM Taylor c Yadav b V. Kumar 81 GA Lamb lbw b Jadeja 27 CR Ervine not out 67 CK Coventry b V. Kumar 32 E. Chigumbura not out 24 Extras (lb 10, w 2) 12 Total (4 wickets; 48.2 overs) 289 Did not bat: AM Blignaut, AG Cremer, P Utseya, RW Price, CB Mpofu. Falls: 1-88 (Masakadza, 12.6 ov), 2-151 (Lamb, 29.3 ov), 3-176 (Taylor, 34.1 ov), 4-231 (Coventry, 42.6 ov) . Bowling: AB Dinda 7.2-0-49-0, R. Vinay Kumar 8-0-51-2, U. Yadav 8-0-48-0, A. Mishra 10-0-47-1, RA Jadeja 10-0-51-1, YK Pathan 4-0-28-0, RG Sharma 1-0-5
